Babies Ever After
by M.P.L. Johnson
Summary: After years of sacrifice and toil, the members of Siren's Sword are given the chance to have normal lives. Stable homes, careers, marriages, and families are established. A non-canon "What If" scenario centered on the trials and triumphs of raising families. Rated T for some language and a bit of suggestive dialogue.
1. Cake, Politics, and Surprises

_A quick note: This series of short stories is what I call a "What If" scenario. If you are familiar with this cast of characters and the RPLS, keep in mind these are not canon in any way, as they take place in a future under circumstances that may never happen, and therefore these stories may never happen. It's just me, having fun after being inspired by an exchange in a David Eddings book._

_FFXI belongs to SE. About half of the player-characters here are mine. The rest belong to their owners, and they know who they are. One name is inspired by another source; it should be fairly obvious what the source is._

* * *

Sophia grimaced and took a seat on a nearby stool. She'd been feeling dizzy all morning, and now she was starting to get shaky. She ran a hand over her face and looked at the half-decorated cake on the counter in front of her. It needed to be finished. More than any cake she'd ever made before, this one had to be perfect. It was going to be the centerpiece for her husband's campaign dinner the next night; it was the last such event before voting commenced.

Not that a cake would be the thing that won his seat in the Senate. Roy had enough charisma, vision, and fire to do that on his own. This was actually for herself. Sophia was by nature not politically inclined and had melted into the background whenever the public eye started to move in her direction. Earlier in the week, though, she had glanced at a newspaper while cleaning up a table in her bakery, and her eyes had fallen upon an article related to the election.

_"While candidate Mustang still leads in the public polls for the vacant seat in the Senate, but his favor seems to be dropping after comments from rival candidate Fulrich's wife during a society event last Lightsday:_

_ "I find it terribly odd that Mrs. Mustang has not been at her husband's side during his campaign. It's a well-known fact that behind every successful man, there's a happy and loving wife. I am also very aware of my husband's opponent's reputation [from when he was younger], and I find it entirely possible that the marriage may be a stunt to give him the appearance of a maturity that he has not reached…"_

Goddess damn it, her blood still boiled thinking about that article. She hated politics and hated dealing with high society; she had thought that personally avoiding those arenas would be thousand times better than going in, running her mouth, and causing a scandal for Roy to deal with. But, oh no, that woman – that harpy – had gone and opened her mouth and…

… The room was actually spinning now. What the hell? Sophia tried to get up, but in addition to spinning the room suddenly tilted to one side and the lights went out.

#############

Sophia stared up at the ceiling with a frown. That wasn't her ceiling… or was it? Did Roy finally make good on his complaints and repaint it white? He must've done it right after she left for the bakery; she couldn't smell the paint. Just antiseptic and…

She tried to sit up, but the dizziness returned and darkness started to creep up on the sides of her vision. With an annoyed, and somewhat panicked, huff she flopped back on the pillows and resigned herself to just turning her head to look around. A hospital room? Why was she at the hospital? The door opened a moment later, admitting her regular doctor and her concerned, but widely grinning, husband.

"Morning." Roy took the chair next to the bed, reached over, and took her hand. "How're you feeling?"

"… Weak." Sophia admitted, then frowned. "Wait, morning? Oh, shit… I didn't finish the cake…"

Roy pushed her back into the pillows. "Forget the cake, Sophe." He glanced at the doctor, who nodded with a smile on his face, and then kissed her on the forehead. "And you're not going back to the bakery for at least a week, not until we get your anemia under control. The baby is taking a lot out of you… we'll discuss later what's going to happen with the bakery when you're further along."

Sophia stared at Roy in utter shock for several long moments. Then she licked her lips and looked over at the doctor. "… Baby?"

"Congratulations. I'm currently estimating you to be about ten weeks," The doctor adjusted his glasses. "But you could be as far as fourteen. You have a bump, which first time mothers don't typically start to develop until somewhere between twelve and sixteen weeks. All that muscle might be exaggerating things, so it's not a very good indicator for you. The fainting and anemia, and a few other little things that aren't anything to worry about now that we know they're there, are more common for those under twelve weeks. We'll know better after a few more tests."

"But… I had my…"

"Still had your monthly? That's not uncommon; it was light, I take it?" He waited until she nodded. "You might continue doing that up until nearly the end. It shouldn't be anything to worry about as long as it stays light, but you should still let me and the midwife know about it whenever it happens."

Sophia nodded again, this time a bit numbly. A baby. They were going to have a baby. She felt like she shouldn't be so floored over it. Having kids was sort of expected when one got married; they'd been married for a few years now but previous attempts had yielded nothing. She looked over at Roy, and frowned at his giddy, excited expression. "… Aren't I supposed the one that looks all happy and excited, while you stumble around as you finally realize how babies are made and where they come from?"

Roy laughed. "Oh, I went through that phase last night. If you want, when the night nurses come back in, I'll track down the ones that saw me stumbling around and they can tell you all about it."

"Tonight? But… you have the dinner to go to…"

"Nope." He kissed her again. "Not going. I'm ahead enough still that missing the event won't kill my chances."

Sophia shook her head. "No. You can't do that. I saw the paper, saw what Invidia said at that stupid society event last week. You were still leading when the paper was published, but the polls were reported to have been slipping from your favor. This'll be too much, you'll completely lose your lead, or worse if that bitch runs her—" She had to close her eyes and stop talking, as the room was starting to get wobbly again. "… Dammit. Why now? We tried for a year and nothing happened. This just isn't a good time… you already warned me that the first couple years in the Senate will have you crazy-busy, and it'll be a while before another seat opens up…"

Roy looked up at the doctor, who nodded in understanding and quietly left the room. When the door clicked closed, he moved from the chair onto the bed and pulled Sophia into his arms. "Sophe, listen. There's never a 'good time' for a baby. No-one is ever so perfectly ready that there won't be bumps along the road. But it'll be okay, I promise. I won't go travelling unless it's absolutely necessary. I'll be home every night for dinner and in bed with you by midnight at the latest. I'll learn how to make breakfast, and whenever I have enough of a break during the day we'll go have lunch or I'll come home so you can get a quick nap. On my days off, I'll have all take-home work done by noontime and the rest of the day will be for you and the baby." He paused. "And if it gets to the point where I can't do that anymore, I'll resign from the Senate. I want to make the Republic better, but not at the expense of our home… our –family-."

It was a good thing, Roy mused, that the doctor had warned him about this the night before. It had given him time to think, to consider the storm that would eventually brew in Sophia's head. All the stories talk about is the radiant mother who takes on everything but the cravings and late-pregnancy mood-swings with grace and good humor. The doctor told him that first-time mothers, however, tend to be more emotional and in need of lots of support and reassurance. And if things went well for Roy in the next couple weeks, as the first-time expectant wife of one of the youngest Senators elected, Sophia was going to be in the news a lot. Everything from names to diapers to how she carries the baby in public would likely be reported, debated, and even good and proper choices would likely get questioned or cast in a bad light. If she didn't realize it right away, the doctor advised, she'll find out as soon as the news turns its attention onto her.

Sophia let out a long breath. "Sooo many promises…" she half-chuckled, "How many of them are you still gonna keep after a year?"

"Every one of them. And you have full permission to kick my butt if I even start to slip a little."

"Hm. I might have to get new shoes, then. I haven't owned a pair of ass-kickers since we got married." She paused. "… The event tonight… what happens at things like that?"

Roy looked down at her, noticing the small speculative frown on her face. "Well. There's the dinner, and I'm expected to circulate around and talk to people, shake hands, that sort of thing. Give a little speech at some point." He eyed her. "It's terribly boring, to be honest, and there's a lot of people there that I'd rather not look at, never mind talk or shake hands with. You'd be irritated within five minutes. And I've already given word that I won't be making it. So don't worry about it."

"Oooooh no." Sophia shook her head. "We're going. Invidia –insulted- me. I'm not letting that slide, especially when I have such good ammunition to throw in her face now."

"But—"

"I can sit at this thing, right? Then there shouldn't be a problem. I can do the same thing there that I could here or at home, plus get enormous satisfaction of metaphorically spitting in that harpy's face."

"Women." Roy mock-complained. "Just when I think I get the lot of you figured out…"

"Love you too." Sophia giggled. "… Oh. Can you call Margarete for me?"

Roy blinked. "My sister? Whatever for? I thought she terrified you?"

"Well… I think she's the only dressmaker around that can whip up exactly what I want in just a couple hours."

#############

It was perfectly timed. Sophia doubted that even if she had told Invidia and the reporters where to stand and what to talk about, the situation couldn't have been better. She and Roy had snuck into the hall before the event had started and literally hidden in a corner to wait for the other guests to arrive. An hour after the event started, the natural flow of the crowd had brought Invidia and the reporters wonderfully close to that corner, and Invidia was standing with her back to it.

"—looking forward all week to sampling the cake that Mrs. Mustang was to provide for tonight's dessert." The fifty-some-odd woman was saying, a look of false disappointment on her face. "I'm not one for sweets, you know, and never had reason to visit her bakery. I've heard she's quite good, though… 'Tis a pity that she doesn't take her husband's opportunity for a career seriously. And now Candidate Mustang himself isn't here… I do hope it wasn't a silly argument that kept him away."

Absolutely perfect. Sophia flashed Roy a quick grin as she straightened up, and the two of them stepped from the shadows to right behind Invidia, in full view of the reporters.

"Oh. There was a silly argument." Sophia laughed lightly as she inwardly gloating at the other candidate's wife as she spun and sputtered. "Roy tried very hard to keep me from coming tonight. But this was such an important event, I couldn't let him miss it. I eventually had to have the doctor come in and assure him that a night out wouldn't hurt the baby or myself."

As the reporter's attention shifted onto her and Roy from Invidia, Sophia was very quickly aware of an absolutely wonderful sound; that of another woman chewing on her own liver. They stood there for another five or so minutes, answering questions while the older woman remained trapped before Sophia turned to Roy and asked if he could help her to a seat; she was starting to feel a bit dizzy.

"I thought you didn't play at politics." Roy murmured in her ear as they moved through the crowd.

"We've been together how many years? You honestly didn't think I wouldn't learn a bit about politics in this time?" Sophia giggled. "Besides… that really wasn't politics. It was woman's warfare. There's a subtle difference."

He chuckled as they reached their table. "By the way," he murmured in her ear as he held her chair. "That really is a stunning dress… when we get home, don't be so quick to get changed out of it."


	2. Shock and Nerves

"Kenjii! What a surprise." Sophia opened the door wider, allowing her adoptive brother into the house while expertly catching her crawling son with her ankle before the baby got too badly underfoot. "I haven't seen you in… good Goddess, you look terrible."

"… Where's that idiot brother of yours?" Kenjii muttered, peering first down the hall and then up the staircase to the second floor. "He wasn't at his room… how does he keep that thing without a moogle being around? I'm pretty sure moogles are required in the residential housing."

Sophia tilted her head. "He's in Tavnazia… he always goes this time of the year to visit with Malay and Kirious, remember?"

He huffed in irritation as he removed his shoes and went into the sitting room to flop gracelessly onto a couch. "Of course he's away when I need him. Spoony bard."

"Eeeevery year, saaaaaame time." Sophia sing-songed as she picked up Seth and sat down next to Kenjii. "Of course, if you actually paid attention to these minor details, these things wouldn't be such a shock.

Kenjii grunted, then did something unexpected. Without a word, he reached over and grabbed Seth off of Sophia's lap, and balanced the baby on his knee. She watched in shock as her brother eyed the child, who in turn took the somewhat awkward position with great fortitude and cheer.

"He looks like his father." Kenjii finally spoke after two minutes, his voice quiet and contemplative. "Except the eyes. Those are kind of big, like yours. And round." He seemed to realize what he was doing, and quickly handed Seth back. "I don't get what the deal is. Babies are noisy, smelly, and expensive. There's enough kids in the world, really don't need to keep adding more."

"Avina's talking about having a baby, I take it?"

Kenjii's unusual behavior spoke much louder than he did just then. "No," he finally sighed. "She's not talking. She's… she's already pregnant."

Sophia knew better than to congratulate him right then and there. "Oh, yeah?" She tilted her head in interest. "How far along? Has she seen a doctor yet?"

"I guess she did; she told me this morning before I left for the school that she had an appointment. And then when I came home, she..." He ran a hand through his hair as he sat forward. "She didn't even give me a warning. I walked in the door and she jumped out of… I don't know, -somewhere-, and yelled 'You're going to be a daddy in seven months!'."

"She's excitable at times. You know that. We all know that. What happened then?"

"I turned around and walked out…"

Sophia stared at him. "You walked…" She paused, then took a deep breath. "Okay… This is completely salvageable. Avina's known you long enough that this sort of behavior isn't out of the blue." She paused again. "… You… were okay with having kids, right? I mean, you two got married…"

Kenjii was still acting unnaturally subdued. "It was an eventuality." He stood up and started pacing around the room. "We're not ready for kids! They're expensive and we have nowhere near enough money saved up. The house is too small… or we'd have to do some major changes. There's a thousand other things we need to take care of before we can have one."

"I think you're more ready than you think you are." Sophia said as she put Seth on the floor; the baby was getting restless and reaching for the pile of toys on the other side of the room. "Roy and I tried for a year because we 'thought we were ready'. Nothing came of it, so we just took it as a sign that it wasn't a good time and we moved on, worked on some of the other things we wanted to do. And then when we learned that Seth was on the way… it most certainly wasn't what we'd call 'good timing'. Things were rough and hectic, but it worked out just fine." She smiled. "We also learned that all that time we 'thought we were ready', we were actually grossly mistaken."

Kenjii frowned, but seemed to accept that as he stopped the pacing and returned to the couch, pausing long enough to pick up Seth along the way. He settled back down and held up the baby, turning him this way and that as if he was inspecting a raw gemstone. Seth found the experience hilarious, and let out a peal of laughter at the new 'game'.

"Well. That's a sight I didn't expect to ever see." Roy said from the doorway as he hung up his coat. "Don't be so jerky with him, Asgard. He's still breakable."

Sophia caught Seth when Kenjii jumped and nearly dropped him, and rolled her eyes. "You startled him." She set the baby on her hip and crossed the room, giving Roy a quick kiss before beginning to speak to him in a low voice.

Kenjii stared at them with first annoyance and then jealousy. It wasn't fair. The world just seemed to hand things to Roy. A successful military career where he climbed the ranks with ease and speed. A wife (he hesitated to call Sophia 'pretty' because, well… she was still 'Draenen' at her edges and his sister. But, he was willing to admit that she had a certain appeal and both marriage and motherhood had done some rather interesting and noteworthy things to her) that loved him. A rather nice house. A seat in the Senate. A son. A family.

And what did he get? He lost his family at a young age…

_Yeah, but you know the truth of all that mess now; it wasn't as bad as you thought it was and you still do have a family._

His family house and inheritance had been tricked out from under him...

_What would you have done with that big empty place? It serves a greater purpose now. So what if the house you have now is small? It's cozy and you know you love it._

Years of training, to each time have his accomplishments pulled out from under him by injury, interference, and the loss of his memories. Sacrifice of years and being thrown into hellish situations, impossible battles.

_Please. You're all healed now. Stronger, even. It was all training for the Bigger Picture. There was stuff that you needed to do, stuff only you could do, and each 'loss' was just another step in the road. And you're still alive. Hell, your Azure is only a minor inconvenience these days._

Kenjii frowned and looked to the other end of the couch. The spot where Sophia had been sitting was still empty, but he could almost see Tegian sitting there, smirking at him and shooting down every argument.

_There's nothing for you to compare against him, you know. You both went through your own hardships; yours were mostly physical, his were against himself. You two are on equal ground, the quality of what you have is the same. The only difference is the quantity; he's getting more because he needs, not deserves, but –needs- more than you. But it all equals out in the end._

He frowned, then looked back at where Roy and Sophia were still standing and talking quietly to each-other; at some point, Seth had decided he wanted to be held by his father and had been handed over. Okay, yeah, he knew that they'd had rocky moments. He'd comforted Sophia (even though it was entirely contrary to how he felt about the situation) a few times after she and Roy had a disagreement back when they were just dating. There had been a huge misunderstanding in the first year of their marriage, and he had allowed Roy to spend a couple nights on the couch while her rage tapered off. And there had been those unsettling couple weeks where a complication during the pregnancy almost made her lose Seth.

_Nothing is ever perfect. There's always going to be a bump here and there… if, you know, you –stick around- for your –own- family…_

"… Oh…" Kenjii's jaw dropped, as realization finally hit him. He had just done what he had accused and hated his own father for, for years. "Oh. Shit…" He sat forward, and put his head in his hands. "… She's… we're… and I walked off…"

Roy chuckled as he handed Seth back to Sophia, and then sat to pull his boots back on. "C'mon, Asgard. You and I are going to go have a talk and a drink while Sophe does damage assessment.

########

"Where is he."

Sophia's face went pale as the door swung open to reveal Ederick Burkhart, Avina's father, standing on the threshold. Gulp. "Ummmm… he's still getting adjusted. His brain sort of overloaded."

"I'd track him down myself, but the rat has been using that popular cologne… it's on eighty percent of the men in the whole city."

"… Ah, yes…" She tried to peer around the man. "… Is Avina in?"

Avina's voice came from the direction Sophia new the living room to be in. "You can't fix this one, Sophe. You might as well go away."

She rolled her eyes, and pushed her way past Ederick, trying to ignore how he sniffed at her as she passed. Crap. She didn't wear perfume, but the oils she used daily for her health doubled in that department. It was a custom blend, and she knew that the scent was strong enough to cling onto others. "I'm not here to fix anything. Just to help you drown your anger in ice cream."

Avina was sprawled on the couch. She had the expression of someone who had been mortally insulted but her eyes were red and puffy. "I don't want ice cream."

"Aw, you sure? And I even brought you a whole carton of your favorite. I finally got that shipment of those nuts from Adoulin for it and I spent a good chunk of this morning making this…" Sophia put the container and a large spoon on the coffee table in front of Avina, then took a seat across from her and started taking off Seth's traveling jumper.

Avina glared, then with a huff reached over, opened the carton, and a moment later jammed a heaping spoonful of the offering in her mouth. "Can't believe he walked out." She muttered, viciously stabbing the spoon back in. "With how much he likes to go at it, you'd think he was trying to get me knocked up."

"He was in a bit of a daze when he showed up." She put Seth down and handed him a few toys to busy himself with. She heard the front door open and shut; Ederick had left, presumably to try and hunt down Kenjii and Roy. "Buuuuut, when I last saw him, he was doing a fantastic job of giving himself a guilt trip. You'll have an apology from him before bedtime tonight. He just got overwhelmed; it's common enough that I can't say he went and did something never done before."

"You're assuming that I'll accept his apology."

Sophia raised an eyebrow. "… Seriously?"

Avina frowned into the now half-empty carton. "… Okay, fine. I will. But he's going to pay for this."

"Poor Kenjii." Sophia laughed. "You're going to run him ragged with the food cravings. And after this, there's no way he'll be able to say 'no' without feeling like total scum."

########

"—mood swings aren't too bad to deal with. Just keep calm, treat everything she says as being serious. It's just all those hormones and the weight."

Kenjii stared at his half-empty glass. He had protested when Roy dragged him into the bar and ordered them both drinks. Last thing he wanted to get was drunk, but Roy had insisted. Thankfully, his choice seemed to have been something mild on the alcoholic side, and after two drinks Kenjii was only feeling relaxed. "… What about the food cravings? I remember hearing about you begging the Rhinostery in Windurst to make some plants bear fruit in the wrong season."

Roy laughed. "Oh, yes. She wanted strawberries in the middle of the winter." He took a sip from his glass. "They need extra nutrition, you know? But I personally think it's not always genuine. It's kind of like they're getting nervous that since their belly is getting big, we might not love them anymore. And a husband that's willing to take apart half the world for exotic shellfish is a husband that still loves them."

"… I'm not feeling so calm all of a sudden."

"Look at it this way… when a women is pregnant, she goes through physical and emotional changes that, as men, we just can't understand. And they don't complain about most of it. When they can't handle it anymore, that's when we hear about it. How comfortable would you be feeling if you knew there was another person growing inside of you?"

Kenjii winced at that. "Okay, you have a point."

"Besides, it's all worth it." Roy smiled. "And all doubts are wiped the moment you –see- your child, Asgard. When you realize a new life is on Vana'diel, and that it has a bit of you in it… it's a whole new feeling." He paused. "Though, I wish Seth had gotten Sophia's or my mother's cheekbones and not my father's."

Kenjii stiffened, his imagination suddenly running away on him. He saw Avina in a maternity dress, her stomach impossibly huge. She started pressing on her stomach, and something fell under her skirt. A moment later, the hem of the skirt rose like stage curtains, and a miniature Ederick charges out at him, wielding an axe and with a manly scream. He shuddered and grabbed his glass, downing the rest of it in one go. "… I am screwed."

"I know that face. You had another of your weird fantasies, didn't you?" Roy quickly raised a hand, cutting Kenjii off as he opened his mouth. "No. Don't tell me. I have to give an important speech tomorrow, and I don't want to laugh in the middle of it."

########

Sophia awoke to a tap on her shoulder, and she blinked around blearily as she sat up and rubbed the back of her stiff neck. Kenjii was standing next to her, a finger raised to his lips. She looked past him to Roy, who was in the process of bundling Seth back up so they could leave.

"… You're late…" She half-mouthed, half-whispered as so not to wake Avina, who was asleep on the other couch.

Kenjii nodded and responded in kind. "Didn't want to risk being even just a bit drunk." He paused. "… Thank you."

Sophia smiled as she stood up, and then reached over and ruffled his hair. "Good luck."


End file.
